I picked up “Shattering Conventions: Commerce, Cosplay, and Conflict on the Expo Floor” because the publisher sponsored the podcast "The Dork Forest" for several episodes.  Even made a little theme song.  Bob Calhoun is a former wrestler turned writer who devoted a year to attending different conventions.  He did the ones you’d expect: Comicon in San Diego”, and a Star Trek convention.  But he also went to a music instrument manufacturers convention (NAMM), WrestleMania, a gun show, a Bigfoot Convention, The Tea Party Express III, even a Cattle Drive in San Francisco.   As someone who has flown across the Atlantic for the sole purpose of attending a “Red Dwarf” convention, I had to give the book a try.

At Comicon, the Fred Phelps people (“God Hates Fags”) were protesting.  Perhaps because the attendees were enjoying life.  Naturally  counter-protest started. Bob noticed a guy in a Star Trek uniform with a sign reading: “God Hates Jedi”.  Awesome!  Excellent example of creativity in the Comicon crowd.  Mr Calhoun was able to contrast the accessibility of authors at the current Comicon verses one he attended years ago.

At the gun show Bob encountered Nazi memorability, survival gear, and of course lots of guns.  I have been to half a dozen gun shows and only encountered the latter two.  But I find it odd that in a world all worried about terrorism, it was at a gun show in Boise Idaho that I bought a book describing how to make Semtex (a nasty high explosive like C4).  I’ve never tried to make any and never will.  Mainly because I don’t know what happens if you deviate from the recipe.  If the temperature gets 20 degrees too hot, does it reduce yield, or blow you to pieces?  Not worth the risk.  Plus jamming a brick of Semtex into a mole hill will do more damage to the lawn than all the varmints in the world.

The Twilight convention in Portland didn’t have the same pull as SciFi franchises, but equal dedication.  Wrestlemania was as crazy off stage as on.  The Tea Party Express was all crazy train.  Be assured that hundreds of people are still dedicated to locating BigFoot.  Things were all fun and games at the Conspiracy Con (Con Con), until a speaker started talking about “racial Satanic Jews” running the country, and no one winced.

You go to a convention to seek out other people with similar interests and views.  Where no one will roll their eyes if you discuss the difference in ballast used on freight verses passenger only rail lines.  At least at the right kind of convention.  While not explicitly saying so, I think Bob Calhoun shows conventions work better for common interests than common beliefs.  With interest conventions you are learning new details and gaining new interactions.  With belief conventions, you are creating a feedback loop that makes you think everyone thinks the same way.